curriculum to achieve more equitable educational outcomes for our children. after entering the school system speaking no english he knows how powerful education can be and in advancing our community. please let's give a round of applause to our education award. [applause] >> thank you. if you won't mind staying for a moment so we can present our next award to the next honoree and it's a new category tonight and it goes to a innovative program at mission high school. this goes to spark america, a program at mission high school and latino strategic alliance and would welcome the

martinez brothers and you all to come up and accept the word from the superintendent richard carranza. [applause] >> spark america is a dynamic and blended pilot program introducing entrepreneurship to students in mission high school in san francisco and was launched in 2012 and teaching students three days a week. one of the most important things they do is learning about the new economy and engage with the latest web and mobile technologies and they bring in entrepreneurers as guest speakers and share the work they're doing in our communities today and their career path and how technology influenced their lives so to spark america and the martinez brothers and

others we thank you for your service. [applause] >> the next awardees will be recognized for their contributions in the field of business. to make this presentation we would like to invite to the stage the honorable from mexico mr. corona . [applause] >> jenny florez is the director -- i'm sorry. would you join us at the stage. [applause] jenny is a community development director of city northern california. she is responsible for the community development, investment in the community -- community redevelopment act

program and making sure that under served communities in the marketplace have access to financial services and products. prior to her position with citi she served with the congress of california seniors a state wide nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting low income families on the issues of health care, affordable housing, transportation and consumer protection. please give a round of applause to jenny. [applause] our next honoree in the field of business is jammy man maldanado from the mission district. >> jiemy was born in san francisco in the late 60's and living in the mission and defined yourself by chicana,

latino or mexican. his father founded the bakery and he took over in 1992 after graduating from san francisco state. when we asked him what circumstances shaped him he said greeing up in the mission shaped me and we knew our fathers cleaned a dish, picked some fruit and if you lost sight of your neighbor and the struggle you lost sight of your identity. unfortunately for our community makes ends meet means focusing on your own struggle and hopes that the future leaders can stand and change this and wanted all of you to know those leaders are you, so to you jiemy for your work in the community in san francisco we thank you for your

service. [applause] >> and thank you for the cookies, the springel cookies and my son and every time he walks by lavictoria he wants to stop and thank you for the contribution to the neighborhood. >> thank you. [applause] >> our next honoree will be recognized for their contributions in the field of community service. to make this presentation we would like to invite to the stage our 2010 community service honoree esstella garcia executive director of la raza. [applause] >> the honoree for this years

community service award goes to louis a roachy and planner for the district attorney's office. [applause] >> congratulations. born in san francisco california louis' mother was a war refugee and his father was a war refugee and settled in the mission district and exposed to street violence he would struggle everyday to stay alive and resulted in dropping out of high school for safety reasons and spent his adolescence in and out of juvenile custody. he has many years experience in this area. he was hired by the district attorney george gaston to lead the first alternative servicing initiative as a planner. he

will help pioneer a new path and reducing recidivism and identify the needs of the defendant and advance public safety. his priorities are to reduce violent crime, work with the city's vulnerable communities and help individuals not reenter the system. he's a loving husband and father and proud neighbor in san francisco. [applause] >> our next awardee will be recognized for their contributions in the field of media, and to make this presentation we ask that our 2008 latino heritage education winner join us on stage tonight. [applause] tonight in the field of media

we recognize this individual, host and producer of television as the 2012 latino heritage media honoree. he's an award emmy journalists both in mexico and the united states. she joined san francisco's team in 2010 where she moved her with her husband george gaston. she said as a franciscan it's with great honor and pride she accepts this award. she can't think of a better place to call home than san francisco. she said journalism affords her the opportunity to give the community a voice, an opportunity to speak for those that can't speak for themselves, to inform and impower those

like her that came in search of the american dream it to you congratulations and thank you for your service. [applause] >> our next honoree will be recognized for the contribution in the field of health and medicine. we would like to invite the director of the san francisco of public health and the 2010 health and medicine honoree to join us on stage to honor our next awardee. [applause] >> our 2012 honoree for latino heritage and health and medicine award goes to dr. gaston.

[applause] >> i will say when we looked at all of the credentials we would spend half of tonight going through them, so the doctor is the head of the health and public health of san francisco. as a health officer he is official who exercises leadership and authorities to protect and promote the health of all franciscans. he is the equivalent of the of the u.s. surgeon general. he is humbled and honored to be here in the city of his birth. we are lucky to have someone

from san francisco. congratulations. [applause] >> well, mayor lee since you're still here i wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much for the honor of serving and you giving me the opportunities as a latino member of the san francisco community to take on new responds and challenges. it's a great honor to be in the presence of keeping it a family affair and speaker pelosi and her daughter and it's a great honor for me to accept this position. [applause] . but our work is really about the community, and before our final award presentation tonight i would like to invite to the stage the two newest members of your administration mayor lee, christina palon and christina could you please join me up on stage. [applause]

. please join me in a very warm round of applause for christina and her work here in san francisco. [applause] >> thank you mayor lee for this extraordinary opportunity. i am honored to be considered for this position and look forward to working with you and the entire city family and san francisco families get the time and attention they need to thrive, grow and evolve. our neighborhoods define our city and central to making san francisco one of the best places to live. thank you to joaquin for having the foresight that i have for taking on this new role. i have tremendous shoes to fill and you did a great job and my predecessors and

supervisor givein dufty and others and i want to continue the legacy for this office. i must acknowledge my mother. she was a strong out going, strong, out spoken feisty latina and came to this country to escape war and limited opportunity. i wouldn't with where i am today if it wasn't the strong principles my mother and fall instilled in my siblings for me and because of my mother and the people of hondoor as i grew up caring about people and the quality of life and understand and educate myself in making meaningful impact on this world. i am

blessed to have amazing family and trends that encourage and support the work that i have done for the last eight years for the city and county of san francisco. the next person i must recognize is rhonda simpsons and the work force director. she has taught me a lot in the last six years and grateful for her leadership especially when it comes to encouraging up and coming women in politics. and i thank the others for the invite and wisdom they have shown me along the way. in closing i look forward to continuing the work i have been doing in the neighborhoods and the communities to partner with each and every person that is committed to making san francisco a stellar place to live work and visit. together we can make a difference one issue at a time. thank you. [applause]

>> in the house. >> that's not all. we have a very special person i had the privilege of working with on a daily basis and the one thing mr. mayor i won't be able to work with her. i would like to invite up mayor's lee director of violence prevention services and make the introduction to you. [applause] >> good evening. how are we? my name is deanna roachy and i am proud of say i'm a san francisco native and the new leader of violence protection

services. i would like to thank mayor lee for the opportunity and thank my loving husband for standing by my side, my family and i would like to thank every individual that mentored me in this audience. i come from roots very much rooted in this city and that are really strong in mentorship and really about understanding how it is important to be proud of who you are, but it's also important to create solidity among different people of color throughout our communities. [applause] i come with that spirit to you, to the administration of mayor lee, to be able to work very hard, like those farm workers that taught us to work very hard day and night, like my mother who was a house maid in the presidio and taught me to work very, very hard everyday. like

my father who is a shoe repair man in north point in embarcadero who taught me to work very hard and all those central americans who taught me to struggle and a balanced peace in our communities, so with that i would like to say it's a honor to be part of this administration and my vision is to be hold public safety in a balanced way, but at the same time looking at long-term goals that really sustain violence prevention services like a community, as a community, as a united community of san francisco, and so today i just want to honor elpueblo. [speaking spanish] , the village united will never be defeated and i trurl believe in that spirit and i honor those ancestors and all the people that taught us that concept and

i hope i can bring that spirit to you and work really hard to make our community safer. thank you. [applause] >> i just have to say i have known her for the most of my working life and she's a fierce advocate and will continue beyond city hall. she's been there before and here now and she's going to be here later and congratulations. and we are very proud of you. [applause] >> so thank you deanna and thank you christina. we look forward to your service. on behalf of all the residents and the county of city of san francisco. i was proud to be part of our next presenter tonight in helping to make sure we had additional latino representation in the arts so i would like to ask to present the final award this evening the first latino poet

laureate in san francisco mr. morgeea to join us on stage. [applause] >> i'm going to invite myself to say a few words. first of all it's a great honor to be here celebrating our community and culture and to celebrate this award to someone i have known since he was a young brown buffalo starting out and i am pleased to see so many elected officials here like mayor edwin lee, representative nancy pelosi, district attorney gaston, police chief -- i am very pleased about that, but i also want to remind them that the next time we meet at one of these receptions i'm going to ask for their reading list, and i hope to see many, many latino

authors, many, many latina poets, especially those poets and books that have been banned recently in arizona. [applause] so while we celebrate today keep in mind that in other places like arizona perhaps we don't have as much to celebrate. [speaking spanish] thank you. [applause] >> our 2012 latino heritage awards recipient is john santos. john, please join us on stage tonight. you know you should be star struck and this is a four time grammy

nominee here, five time grammy nominee here and one of the most experienced in latin music today and known for the use of instruments and contemporary music and has earned much respect as a composer and producer. he has studied and recorded with jazz masters and dizzy gillespie and many others. he was born in san francisco california. he was raised in puerto rico and his traditions of his family always had music and his

studies of afro latin music have included trips to new york, puerto rico and columbia and brazil and i know the director of the theater of women in the arts will let you know he's playing in the days ahead. [applause] so senor santos thank you so much for your contributions to the arts community here in san francisco and we thank you for your service. [applause] >> thank you very much wa wean. i want to say thank you to the mayor also, to the nominating committee. i also want to acknowledge my family, my inspiration. my father who passed away last week who was also a san francisco native. my mom in the hospital right now after a knee replacement and

also a san francisco native. this means a lot for us. i know i speak for 99% of the latino and jazz musicians who are not playing commercial music whose photos are not on the covers of magazines or in the newspaper or not on television, and we play this music because it's our roots. it's who we are. it's a tradition handed down to us and this award means a lot. i think it means more to us than anybody else. also when we talk about latin heritage month and every month is latin heritage month but we are first and foremost human beings, no better or worse than any human being on this planet and i hope in the room will work for human rights around the globe despite doesn't matter where people are from, what flag they're playing.

thank you very much. [applause] >> well, tonight we have some very, very special sponsors tonight. wells wells fargo, at&t and all of the wine makers that are ready to serve you while you listen to the incredible music from the performers tonight and i want to recognize the sponsors tonight. mission language and vocational school and braffa for women in the arts and thank you all for making the time to be here tonight and celebrate latino community

>> when there's good children's theater, it is good theater. if it is good theater, you would like it. even if it is for children that, is what i think. i know for the velveteen rabbit, i feel it is a story for kids and much older people. it is about being a young child and loving a toy or friend and it is also about what it means to get old. in 1986 my son was 2. i decided i would like to adapt the velveteen rabbit. mind you, i had never read

it as a child but heard it as a mother. my first time was a bedtime story recording. it was through that that i defined the theme and really determined how i was going to produce the story. is it true listening to it. when i made the dance i watched my son, since i have been taking him to live performances since he was 6 years old. he loved it when he saw his peers or when someone was reading to him or he heard language. early when the bunny first comes out they go, ah, the rabbit. i think talking, flying, something they can relate to. and the adults love nana.

nan na is the main adult figure in the show. the fairy is played by the same person. fair is very much like the love for your first child. pure love. nature is a beautiful thing. all wild rabbits come from nature. i think nature is mysterious, beautiful, not something our kids get very much these days. there's fantastical spectacle because of computers and film. i think in live performance, in a way being paired down, you can be more successful and ask everybody to buy into the world you are in.

if it is a simple world they will buy in, as long as the world is consistent that you have on stage. in some ways i also want that message for kids. it doesn't have to be spectacle but how you feel and having fun and taking things seriously, not about being blown away. >> what is real? it is a thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time. >> i think it is a success. for the most part if you are three to seven, you sit in the seats and most of the time the kids are engaged. they laugh and ask questions. i think that is success.

the fact we tour it and do it here, it is lasting. i really want to say the reason it is lasting is because of the story marjorie williams wrote is a gem of a story. if it was just an okay story, it wouldn't have lasted this long. i have had people say that is the first show i ever saw, that is why i am a choreographer. i have had people that have come back when they are 20 and 23 years old. little kids and people in their 50s and 60s are telling me how much they love it. they come back more than once, they come back year after year.